Simple questions. Simple answers. Complex questions. Flow charts.

[Merusk]

Ah, see I didn't know bears has a bleed, I thought it was only cats.  My druid is all of level 14 and a bank alt.  (She's hot in those woolies!)  The more you know.

Prot wars would also be a problem for us.  We have one warrior (and I'm the only DK). we're fucking Paladin/ mage/ Druid heavy.  For the longest time we had one raiding lock, rogue, war, priest and DK, the rest was Pallies, Mages and druids with a mis of 3 slots shared between shaman or hunters from time to time.  We're fucking weird on class balance.

Hunters still use cats? Hunters have ever used raptors?  I see wolves all the time, never the others.  Not sure what spec most are nowadays, but isn't it Survival?

[Ingmar]

Survival and marks are both raid viable and pretty close on damage/utility these days.

[Sheepherder]

Survival is the better entry raid spec, but Marks scales better, particularly with Armor Penetration.

[Rendakor]

Does anyone here play a resto druid? My girlfriend has one, and seems to be doing poorly on healing parses in ToC and ICC. Here's an armory link; any glyphs or talents that need changing? Any mandatory healing addons for a resto druid?

[K9]

The resto druids in my guild swear by healbot, and they kick my arse at 'winning the meters'.

Resto druid is arguably the most complex healer to play in terms of keeping track of stuff, and the most faceroll in other regards. Having addons that facilitate rolling HoTs and using the right heal in the right situation will improve your throughput massively. Resto druids should do well in endgame raids as almost all fights involve some form of continuous low-level raid damage that is made to be healed by HoTs.

Gearwise she has a few issues. She's a blacksmith but she isn't making use of the wrist and glove sockets. Quite a few blue-quality gems which could be upped to epic, and no gems in the legs (but I see these are a new acquisition). Helm, Back, Gloves and Legs are missing enchants, and ideally she should be using Tuskarr's Vitality (+15 stam, +8% runspeed) on her boots. She's also gemming for spirit, which isn't an awful choice for resto druids (better than mp5 or stam certainly), but she could afford to break some of the weaker socket boni and go for better throughput stats. That said, her gearing is fine for ToC and ICC.

For glyphs, glyph of Innervate will not increase her throughput at all, and she can boost throughput instantly by switching to Glyph of Wild Growth.

Talent wise she should pick up Natural Swiftness and max out Gift of the Earthmother. She can afford to loose points from Improved Tranquility and Natural Perfection.

In all probability though the main thing she might need to change is the spells she chooses to use.

[Selby]

My resto druid.  That build and glyphs setup is from Naxx raiding days, but it still works pretty damn well in my opinion.  Haven't bothered to check out rapid rejuvenation though, supposedly it's a better glyph.  I still do almost 4k HPS on fights like Festergut where heals are pretty crazy on the raid and tanks (most healers spend their entire time just healing on that fight, no downtime) and I don't run out of mana *too* much on it.

I don't use healbot or anything fancy, some people say I would be better with it but right now there are no complaints about my style anyways.  Another resto druid and I are pretty close for healing abilities and he's got better gear than I do.

[Ingmar]

I wouldn't switch to rapid rejuv unless you're tank healing - it is actually a bit worse for raid healing by blanketing everyone in rejuv.

[Rendakor]

Thanks for the comments K9. She's gonna redo her spec and glyphs, and we know about the gems/chants. It's not her main, and she's too lazy/poor to get epic gems for the druid. And her blacksmithing is...slightly less than max.

[apocrypha]

Simple question: How long would a full run of Molten Core take to do with 5-6 level 80s (GS ranging from one at ~3200, 2 at ~4500 and 3 at ~5200), only one of which has ever done MC before? No terribad players but only 2 semi-experienced raiders, and all using voice comms.

One of my guildies is being really pushy about wanting to do MC. He just wants achievs, he's a bit of a cockend and is very reluctant to ever do guild groups where he doesn't stand to get something he specifically wants and nobody else really wants to do MC. However, if it's going to take us an hour then fine, we'll do it, the rest of us are nice like that. If it's going to take 3 hours then we're going to tell him to cock off and when he bitches use it as an excuse to kick him out of the guild 

[K9]

You can probably clear it in an hour or so, your main issue is going to be actually finding your way around the damn place since it's somewhat non-linear and the different sections are entirely homogenous in look.

[apocrypha]

OK fine, if it's only going to take an hour or so we'll do it. He should know the way around.

It gives us ammunition to use when he next refuses to join in other guild groups to help other people out.

[Xeyi]

Just be careful with the mini corehound packs after Lucifron.  We thought we'd speed things up a bit by pulling them all at once.  20 minutes later we were still stuck there on the same pull.

[Selby]

You can probably get it done in an hour, hour and a half.  But as stated, be sure to at least have a glance at the fights beforehand because some of them still have pretty nasty mechanics that, while they don't wipe you anymore, you may get stuck trying to kill the boss\mob.  Not to mention knowing your way around, because all 7 bosses are pretty much in a non-linear fashion.  It's not as much of a cockblock as AQ-40 STILL is, but it can ruin your evening if you go in with seriously fail people.

[K9]

Ragnaros is still one of the coolest boss-mobs in the game, even at 80 though, and rather makes the whole thing worth doing.

[Merusk]

I've run through MC with just the wife on her druid and me on my DK just to watch Rags again.  The kids love watching Majordomo  getting pwn'd.

[Selby]

I've run through MC with just the wife on her druid and me on my DK just to watch Rags again.

This is another thing, you CAN 2 man it.  Need someone able to play healer though.

[Paelos]

Do you still have to put out fires, or have they taken that out as well?

[caladein]

Do you still have to put out fires, or have they taken that out as well?

WoWWiki says: "With the introduction of Patch 3.0.8, killing the boss that is associated with a rune will now automatically douse the rune."

[apocrypha]

OK, sounds like it may actually be fun then, we'll try and schedule it soon :)

[craan]

I started playing about a month ago and today tried the LFG tool for the first time for the Deadmines.  I was a 22 combat rogue and wanted to finish the Van Cleef/Defias quest so I figured this was a good time to experiment.

The first group was a ne druid, a gnome mage, a human warlock, and something else I think a priest.  When we were about to start I'd said this was my first time and the only responses were 'this is like my 500th time lol'.  Then the druid ran off in bear form and started pulling stuff.  Their method of pulling was to run around and gather 4-5 mobs and wait for the group to catch up and start beating on the pulls.  I didn't think it right of me to criticize this but when I played a monk in EQ I would ask 'ready?' then say how many I was going to bring back (best guess) and bring the mobs all the way back to the group or camp...which wasn't happening here so I was trotting a good distance to catch up and start helping the druid.

It was after the 3rd of 4th of these that the healer/priest went offline.   At this point I was puzzled about what was going on both with the group dynamics and the action.  I had no idea if I was doing the right thing but assumed that assisting the tank and sinister striking/keeping slice and dice up was the logical thing to do.  There wasn't any communication or chat in the party channel and with so many mobs being pulled and the druid jumping constantly all over the damn place I was struggling.  I was lost and confused but it was mostly fun until we suddenly started wiping and people leaving/getting group-kicked.   We got to the bottom of the goblin furnace when the druid ran off and pulled what seemed like a dozen clockwork robots or something.  The rest of us were still working on a remaining goblin and they swarmed over us and ate the mage, the druid, then me.

A few minutes after my third run back to the instance the other remaining members quit.  I got a few things to sell and got a neat blue sword so I guess I ended up better than worse.  So I guess my question is what, as a rogue, should I have been doing differently?  I don't know how much help I was but I sure was spamming my combat window with hits and parries.  I don't remember much of what the warlock was doing but the mage was constantly spamming some aoe fire thing.  We were all 21-23 in level.

 

[Ironwood]

Well, for a start, you should have asked the group for some help.

[craan]

I did at the start and got the '500th time' comments.  Then we were off.  A few minutes later I had asked something like 'am I doing the right stuff?' and didn't get a response.   The party chat was dead.  So I didn't get any feedback on if I was mistargeting or what.  I guess I can make it more clear that newb == me in the future though.

[K9]

If you're a rogue, you're there to DPS. At mid-levels (40-68ish) you may be expected to CC mobs with sap. When you DPS you should also try to interrupt spell casts. That's pretty much your role in life.

The problem is you are a little late to the game and the majority of people playing through the early game now are alts rather than new players. These are people who will often have level 80 mains and will be used to the zerg style of endgame dungeons and will also assume that everyone else knows what's going on. For your part it's probably best to just go with the flow, but I wouldn't hold your breath for measured pulls and such. Keep trying with the party chat, sometimes you'll get lucky; never be blind to the fact that WoW still has one of the worst (not the worst, there's still Darkfall) communities of any game, particularly at lower levels.

The best way for you to learn the game would be to try and get into a casual guild where a lot of the players are focused on raising alts. This isn't the easiest thing in the world, but will make life a lot better for you if you can find such a group to support you.

[Selby]

So I guess my question is what, as a rogue, should I have been doing differently?

Nothing.  You were there to kill mobs, that's what you did.  What the problem was if the tank was yanking dozens of mobs and the DPS was unable to get them down before the healer ran out of mana, the tank should have slowed down.  I don't chain pull tons of stuff regardless with people I don't know, because I don't know if they know how to play or are able to keep up.  I don't like chain pulling a new fresh set of 6-7 mobs while half the original 4-5 are still alive and maybe half health either.  But that's on the tank, not you as a rogue.

[Sheepherder]

The quick and dirty explanation for the completely lost:

1. Tanks AoE now, welcome to 2007.
2. Pulling is done fast to get in and get out fast.
3. It's Deadmines, nothing in there should be able to wipe a group.  Your tank or healer was failing.
4. You're a rogue, you do damage, that's it.
5. Parry and Block only happen when you're in front of an enemy, get behind if you're not going to pull additional mobs in doing so.
6. Weapon skills affect block/dodge/parry/miss rates significantly, did you recently switch weapons?

[craan]

I ended up in front more often than behind the mobs.  There wasn't any reason for me to not be behind them since there was no risk of extra pulls so I'll remember that next time.  I hadn't switched weapons for several levels so I was using what I was familiar with during soloing.

[caladein]

As a Rogue, until you get Blade Flurry, you're pretty much going to sit on a mob and beat the crap out of it.  Preferably a caster so you can interrupt anything nasty it tries.  (And when you do get it nothing really changes .)  If you're beating the crap out of something and not getting beaned by whatever encounter mechanics are out there, you're doing your job.

As for the pulling etiquette, on my 80 Paladin, it's pretty much a "Hey all.", seeing if everyone looks buffed and topped off and I'll start pulling.  It's going to be on the tank to set the pace, but the healer needs to put the brakes on it if it's getting too dicey or the group needs mana breaks.

The way you're describing it though, the tank (Druid) just didn't feel like waiting for a new healer which is all on his head.

[Minvaren]

I found some purchasable items on the Dalaran armor vendor that I'd never seen before yesterday!  Looks like another week and I should be to 4600-ish on the gearscore and well over 30k on HP.  However, finding a weapon/shield upgrade past ilvl 200 for a warrior tank seems to be slightly more difficult, and the WoW Armory hasn't given me the "find upgrades" option in weeks.  Any good (non-raid) places to look for these?

[Rasix]

I found some purchasable items on the Dalaran armor vendor that I'd never seen before yesterday!  Looks like another week and I should be to 4600-ish on the gearscore and well over 30k on HP.  However, finding a weapon/shield upgrade past ilvl 200 for a warrior tank seems to be slightly more difficult, and the WoW Armory hasn't given me the "find upgrades" option in weeks.  Any good (non-raid) places to look for these?

HOR reg seems to be an OK place to find a shield.  At least the only readily available upgrade that I see.

FOS reg is a very easy place to get a tanking weapon upgrade.  Looks like a giant lolly though. HPOS also drops a nice tank weapon, but I don't see it drop very often.  You should probably do fine tanking there.

Are you picking up the T9 tier items?  Really, for a tank you should be gearing up pretty quick.  On my healer, I tended to gobble up emblems like candy.

[caladein]

For Shields it's pretty much Splintered Door of the Citadel out of Normal HoR or nothing.

Weapons you have a few options: Peacekeeper Blade from Heroic ToC is okay, but you're really looking at either Rimefang's Claw (Heroic PoS) or Falric's Wrist-Chopper (Heroic HoR).

[Minvaren]

Are you picking up the T9 tier items?  Really, for a tank you should be gearing up pretty quick.  On my healer, I tended to gobble up emblems like candy.

T9 = ilvl245?  Yep, minus the helm so far.  From a cost-benefit perspective, the helm seems to give the fewest stats for the 75 badgers it wants.  The Dalaran merchant will let me upgrade legs/hands/feet to 226 for cheap (Conquest items).  Then it's just cloak and trinkets.

Also, it looks like the "find an upgrade" link started working again - go figure.  FoS reg was a relative cakewalk, so I'll poke there for the lolly.

For Shields it's pretty much Splintered Door of the Citadel out of Normal HoR or nothing.

   Looks like it's time to check out HoR...  Given experiences in PoS, I'd been avoiding this one so far.

[Rasix]

Are you picking up the T9 tier items?  Really, for a tank you should be gearing up pretty quick.  On my healer, I tended to gobble up emblems like candy.

T9 = ilvl245?  Yep, minus the helm so far.  From a cost-benefit perspective, the helm seems to give the fewest stats for the 75 badgers it wants.  The Dalaran merchant will let me upgrade legs/hands/feet to 226 for cheap (Conquest items).  Then it's just cloak and trinkets.

Tier 9 = ilvl232 set items. 30 emblems for gloves/shoulders, 50 for head/chest/pants.  Sold right outside of the entrance to TOC near the Argent Tournament.  Easy way to upgrade your glove quick and possibly your pants or helm also.

[JWIV]

Are you picking up the T9 tier items?  Really, for a tank you should be gearing up pretty quick.  On my healer, I tended to gobble up emblems like candy.

T9 = ilvl245?  Yep, minus the helm so far.  From a cost-benefit perspective, the helm seems to give the fewest stats for the 75 badgers it wants.  The Dalaran merchant will let me upgrade legs/hands/feet to 226 for cheap (Conquest items).  Then it's just cloak and trinkets.

Also - regular ToC for the Black Heart - great stam trinket.

Tier 9 = ilvl232 set items. 30 emblems for gloves/shoulders, 50 for head/chest/pants.  Sold right outside of the entrance to TOC near the Argent Tournament.  Easy way to upgrade your glove quick and possibly your pants or helm also.

[Ingmar]

As a warrior, buy all the T9 except the helmet and use the 75 badge offset helmet instead. The T9 4pc is really pretty good so I wouldn't skip it in favor of wearing both offset 245s. The 245 helmet is better vs. the set helmet than the 245 shoulders are vs. the set shoulders, so go with the helmet even though it is a few more badges.

EDIT: If you happen to wander in to an Ony raid and end up with the warrior tanking hat from there, both the 232 and 245 versions of that are also better than our T9. Our T9 helmet is not very good; block value is a low priority.

EDIT #2: Splintered Door is your only non-raid option for a shield. There are good tanking weapons in heroic Pit of Saron and heroic Halls of Reflection; the sword from Pit of Saron is a little better statistically unless you're an orc, if you're an orc go with the axe from HoR.

[Minvaren]

Tier 9 = ilvl232 set items. 30 emblems for gloves/shoulders, 50 for head/chest/pants.  Sold right outside of the entrance to TOC near the Argent Tournament.  Easy way to upgrade your glove quick and possibly your pants or helm also.

Found the ones you're talking about - had confused those with the other set pieces that took Frost badges.  Picked up the gloves, should have the legs in a couple days.

Thanks to all for the advice!